Boosting biosecurity

New portable sample testing and mobile incident centres are among a suite of work the State Government is delivering to bolster the state’s response to any emergency animal disease outbreak.

The government will deliver a $10 million package, which builds on Victoria’s preparedness to ensure the state can respond swiftly if there is a local detection of animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease or lumpy skin disease.

The support will be tailored to industry and community, with the development of a campaign to help stop foot and mouth disease already underway.

If an outbreak occurs, a portable testing lab will be deployed to outbreak locations to allow real-time on-site sample testing.

The funding will also ensure farmers are equipped with resources if there is a detection and enable them to liaise with Agriculture Victoria as quickly as possible should there need to be the implementation of a livestock standstill.

The government is set to establish Mobile Incident Command Centres, and roll-out IT system upgrades to easily track outbreaks and coordinate online permits for livestock movements.

Specialist training in emergency animal diseases, outbreak management and recovery arrangements will also be rolled out to identified government agency staff and industry.

An additional 49 dedicated emergency animal disease staff are also being recruited to advance response measures already underway.

The funding builds on Victoria’s extensive emergency animal disease preparedness efforts and will support the work of the Emergency Animal Disease Taskforce established last month.

Agriculture Minister Gayle Tierney said the state’s livestock industries were extremely valuable, and “we must have the infrastructure and people in place in case of an emergency animal disease outbreak - investing now means we will be prepared to respond swiftly and protect our livestock, farmers and biosecurity system.”

“We will continue engaging with industry, farmers and communities, to ensure they are prepared if an outbreak were to occur,” she said.

Agriculture Victoria chief veterinary officer Graeme Cooke said foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease were major threats to Victoria’s agriculture.

“That is why we are investing in a range of capabilities should Victoria ever need to deal with these chalWleGnCgMiAn-gLake diseases,” Dr Cooke said.